Expansion: Can rising Houston shed commuter-school reputation from SWC days, prove it can hang with the Big (12) boys?

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In this Dec. 31, 2015, file photo, Houston head coach Tom Herman watches play against Florida State during the first half of the Peach Bowl NCAA college football game in Atlanta. The AAC notched 10 wins in 2015 against Power Five conference teams, including Mississippi, Miami, Penn State and Louisville. The Cougars' 38-24 victory against Florida State was the highlight, a final statement that helped the American recover from what was otherwise a blah bowl season. (AP Photo/John Bazemore, File)

HOUSTON -- Hunter Yurachek calls it his personal history lesson, as delivered by alumni and fans at the University of Houston.

He's heard all about Houston's time in the Southwest Conference and how the Cougars were left out of the Big 12. Now, with Big 12 expansion talk swirling, the insight is crucial.

"I know how important this is," Yurachek said from his athletic director's office last week. "I don't think this is more important to any fan base across the country than it is to the Houston Cougar fan base -- just because of the history, being members of the Southwest Conference and how passionate our fan base is and what the rivalries during the Southwest Conference meant to our fan base."

In the next few weeks or months, Houston will learn whether its push to join the Big 12 is successful. Industry sources familiar with the process consistently say Houston is one of three schools best positioned, along with Cincinnati and BYU. The Big 12 could expand by two -- currently the most likely option -- or add four schools or stand pat. Eight votes from the 10 Big 12 presidents are needed.

The stakes are World Series of Poker high with "power five" conference membership on the line. In Houston's case, it involves a football program with a hot young coach and a top-15 preseason ranking, a $1 billion investment in campus infrastructure -- including $260 million for current and planned athletic projects -- and a chance to erase its SWC image as a commuter school.

"It's crazy that the buzz is here," wide receiver Steven Dunbar said.

'H-Town Takeover'

Ting Shen/Staff Photographer

University of Houston football head coach Tom Herman (left) chats with Texas A&M football head coach Kevin Sumlin during a football satellite camp jointly hosted by Texas A&M and University of Houston at Lancaster High School on June 9, 2016 in Lancaster, Texas. (Ting Shen/The Dallas Morning News)

He says it's not his department. Herman's focus as Cougars football coach is preparing his team for a marquee opener Sept. 3 with No. 3 Oklahoma at NRG Stadium. Herman has done his part, bringing swagger and a big-time ambition, encapsulated in the catchphrase "H-Town Takeover." The Cougars backed up the talk with a 13-1 season and a Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl win over Florida State. In return, the school more than doubled the salary of the former Ohio State offensive coordinator, bumping him from $1.3 million to $2.8 million.

As much as Herman tries to leave expansion talk to others, he understands its importance to his administration, the alumni and the city.

"This university has come so far in such a period of time," Herman said.

Already Herman has made inroads in one season. His 2016 recruiting class was ranked 35th in the 247Sports composite, which would have been good for fourth best in the Big 12.

"I knew if we could keep a lot of the great players home," Herman said, "we could win a lot of football games."

The feeling -- or fear, depending on your point of view -- is that if Houston moves up to power conference status, who knows what Herman could accomplish if he stays awhile longer. In his last class, he landed homegrown defensive tackle prospect Ed Oliver, ranked as the nation's sixth-best recruit. For Big 12 schools that recruit Houston, things could get even more competitive.

"Anyone that's not in Texas will have a more difficult time recruiting Texas if another Texas school gets in this league," Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy told the Tulsa World.

Yurachek points to the talent drain that has hit the Big 12 with the SEC encroaching on the Houston area since the move of Texas A&M. Houston could help keep some of those recruits home, he says.

"I think Houston can help strengthen our foothold in the Texas market for those recruits," Yurachek said.

Renu Khator, the school's president and chancellor, has reportedly met with nine Big 12 presidents, as well as pretty much anyone else willing to hear Houston's story. She even sat down with Texas booster Red McCombs earlier this year, according to a Houston Chronicle report.

Khator's already raised Houston's academic standards so the university has Tier One research status and a Phi Beta Kappa chapter. But getting the school into the Big 12 might be just as big a part of her legacy.

"It has all the assets and attributes to be an attractive candidate," Khator said, citing the academic progress, the marketplace, the city of Houston and the success in football and other sports.

She says the academic and athletic progress dovetail.

"I know how important it is to have a winning athletic program at the same time," Khatur said. "The two complement each other. I know how athletics can be so powerful in meeting the goals of academics.

"It bonds the students. It gives the students the confidence. It makes them engaged. I can see the connection between academics and athletics."

Back in the SWC, Houston gained the less-than-flattering nickname Cougar High. In the 1980s, a Cotton Bowl official famously complained about the school's fan base. Even Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Houston alum, talked about graduating from "a commuter college" in her Democratic Convention speech.

"The University of Houston today is not what it was 10 years ago," Khator said, "and I love to showcase it."

Assistance from Austin

Staff Photographer

Texas Governor Greg Abbott on the sideline in the first half during an NCAA football game between Oklahoma and Texas at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas Saturday October 10, 2015. Texas Longhorns beat Oklahoma Sooners 24-17. (Andy Jacobsohn/The Dallas Morning News)

From the outside, Houston gained valuable momentum July 21, when in a rapid-fire series of tweets, Gov. Greg Abbott, University of Texas President Greg Fenves, UT Chancellor Bill McRaven and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick endorsed Houston's Big 12 bid.

In the aftermath, the Austin American-Statesman reported that a possible political deal could allow Texas to develop a satellite campus on 332 acres in Houston in exchange for Big 12 membership for the Cougars.

A day later, Texas Tech interim President Lawrence Schovanec endorsed Houston's Big 12 hopes as well. Khator said she was grateful that people recognized the "substance" of Houston but said she doesn't pay attention to the outside handicapping of what it meant.

"We have our destination," Khator said. "We have so much going on academically and athletically. We're committed to building a truly powerhouse nationally competitive university, and we continue to march on our journey.